Dota Summit 9 Day 2 will have another set of matches in store, with back-to-back must-watch games with VGJ.Storm going up against OpTic Gaming followed by Fnatic.

Day 1 of the Summit 9 went fairly well as far as our predictions go. Case in point, Fnatic tried to cheese their way to a win against OpTic Gaming, with Azel Abed ‘Abed‘ Yusop playing Meepo in both games, but only succeeding once. Let’s Do It also played well above expectations too once they started playing loose after dropping their first game of the day against Fnatic.

Heading into Dota Summit 9 Day 2, Evil Geniuses are currently firmly in the lead with a 3-1 record and are looking like the team to beat, but who knows? Anything can still happen.

Having said that, below are our picks for the Day 2 games of Dota Summit 9.

OpTic Gaming vs Let’s Do It

The Nisha factor gives Let’s Do It a fair shot at splitting their series against OpTic Gaming in Dota Summit 9 Day 2. (Team Kinguin)

Somebody put Michal ‘Nisha‘ Jankowski in a Tier 1 team. No offense to the rest of the Team Kinguin players, but it’s obvious Nisha is the best player on their team. Even in their losses, he’s doing everything he possibly can to give his team a chance, and up against OpTic Gaming, whose mid laner, Quinn ‘CCnC‘ Callahan, isn’t a particularly dominant player, Nisha has proven that he alone is a big enough factor to give Let’s Do It a fair shot.

OpTic Gaming vs VGJ.Storm

From what we’ve seen so far from their games, it seems that VGJ.Storm are very open to experimentation this tournament. And, while that’s commendable — it’s better to do it now than at TI — trying out new things is way too different from whatever they did when they picked Wraith King and Techies against Evil Geniuses.

With OpTic Gaming clearly playing to win, it’s hard seeing them lose against a team that’s probably going to pick a wonky draft again.

Fnatic vs paiN Gaming

Both of paiN Gaming’s losses against VGJ.Storm proved to us that Aliwi ‘w33‘ Omar alone just can’t carry the team. The rest have to step up. They also need to draft better too. But, it’s their play that really needs some work.

Up against Abed, who’s easily one of the most mechanically skilled players in Dota 2, at mid, w33 will not have as easy of a time, and if he doesn’t have a good game, it’s hard to see how paiN Gaming can take even just a single game off of Fnatic.

paiN Gaming’s success lies in w33 getting a good start and creating space for William ‘hFn‘ Medeiros to farm and wreak havoc. The dynamic might be quite simple, but it works for them because of how good w33 is and how well the rest of the team plays around such a playstyle.

Unfortunately, from what we’ve seen so far, Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL‘ Hassan is intent on proving that he remains one of the best midlaners in the world, and that certainly doesn’t bode well for the rest of paiN Gaming.

Nisha may have given SumaiL his money’s worth, which helped Let’s Do It come away with a win against Evil Geniuses, but the overall skill difference is just too much for paiN Gaming to overcome unless the boys in blue decide to try out a wonky draft to end Dota Summit 9 Day 2 just for the sake of it.